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Eland Hunting Rituals among Northern and Southern San Groups: Striking Similarities1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 January 2012

J. D. Lewis-Williams  and
M. Biesele
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Extract

The prominence of the eland in San thought is suggested by the frequency with which this antelope was depicted in rock paintings and also by the myths and rituals in which it features. In this paper we describe and compare certain eland beliefs and hunting rituals drawn from two San groups, the !Kung of Botswana and the now extinct \Xam of the Cape Province. The relevance of material obtained from the northern !Kung to the explication of the limited southern \Xam ethnographic record and rock paintings has been regarded as questionable in view of the ecological and linguistic differences between the two societies. Using the results of recent field work among the !Kung, we attempt to show that, in spite of the linguistic and ecological differences, there is evidence for a conceptual framework common to both groups.

Résumé

LES RITUELS DE LA CHASSE À L'ÉLAN CHEZ LES GROUPES SAN DU NORD ET DU SUD: QUELQUES RESSEMBLANCES FRAPPANTES

Deux ensembles de matériel ethnographique recueilli à cent années d'intervalle sont étudiés ici pour faire ressortir un cadre conceptuel commun aux différentes peuplades San d'Afrique méridionale qui vivent de la chasse et de la cueillette. Des enquetês menées chez les !Kung (San du nord) et effectuées au cours des années 1970 sont utilisées afin d'explorer à la fois la culture à présent disparue des /Xam (San du sud) telle qu'elle a été consignée vers 1870 et les peintures rupestres découvertes dans la zone /Xam. En dépit des différences linguistiques et écologiques entre les deux groupes, des ressemblances frappantes ont été mises á jour dans l'usage rituel et symbolique de l'élan du Cap.

La prééminence de l'elan dans la pensée San est suggérée par la fréquence avec laquelle celui-ci apparaît sur les peintures rupestres, dans les mythes et les rituels. Représentant la plus grande et la plus impressionnante des antilopes de l'Afrique méridionale, qui se distingue par sa graisse, sa chair délicieuse et son allure noble à laquelle s'ajoute une docilité surprenante, elle possède une très grande importance économique et artistique. Le symbole de l'élan était utilisé par les !Kung et les /Xam dans les céremonies de puberte des jeunes filles et les rites de mariage. On en constate la prédominance numérique sur tous les autres animaux dans les peintures rupestres de la zone /Xam. C'est un animal qui prédomine également dans les initiations à la chasse destinées aux jeunes gens. Les auteurs explorent en profondeur les renseignements que les chasseurs !Kung actuels, qui ont eux-mêmes accompli la poursuite de l'elan à pied puis recu les scarifications rituelles, peuvent fournir sur certaines remarques faites il y a un siècle à W. H. I. Bleek et Lloyd sur leurs anciens rituels de la chasse à l'élan.

Pour reprendre l'expression de Turner (1967: 51) l'élan émerge comme ‘symbole multivoque’ dans une grammaire de significations sociales. Certaines équivalences structurelles examinées dans le présent article suggérent que l'élan avait pour les /Xam une signification très peu différente de celle qu'il a encore pour les !Kung. Il est donc probablement légitime de mettre à profit les renseignements disponibles sur les !Kung pour procéder avec les précautions d'usage à un élargissement des renseignements limités sur les /Xam: ceci permettrait d'aboutir à une élucidation de l'élan en tant que symbole tel qu'il se manifeste dans l'art, les mythes et le rituel des San du sud.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , April 1978 , pp. 117 - 134
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1978

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